2017 European SC Swimming Championships, MEDALS & PRIZE MONEY

After five days of outstanding swimming action the 19th European Short-Course Swimming Championships came to an end on Sunday in Copenhagen. The Royal Arena witnessed a couple of brilliant performances, two new world records, three European records (and a tied one), 10 new junior WRs, one junior ER and further 11 Championship Records. Russia’s Kliment Kolesnikov and Netherlands’ Ranomi Kromowidjojo top the respective prize money lists and shall receive 20,000 Euros apiece. LEN President Paolo Barelli called the event as one of the best ever in history.

Copenhagen’s brand new treasure, the Royal Arena offered truly majestic environment for the participants of the 19th short course Europeans. The first sport event held in the facility was another world-class event in LEN’s long and rich history.

“We can declare that this edition was one of, if not the best-ever short-course European Championships” LEN President Paolo Barelli said. “Our Danish friends set the bar very high for the future organisers since everything was close to perfection. We can barely find any more athlete-friendly environment at swimming competitions but the demands of the officials, the media and the broadcasters were also catered and of course the Royal Arena itself was a fantastic venue for the spectators.”

Selling more than 30,000 tickets has demonstrated that swimming made a huge impact once again, both in Denmark and in Europe – and thanks to the live streaming perhaps all around the world –, which is a huge benefit for the locals and for the whole LEN Family.

Paolo Barelli also praised the efforts of the participants. “Our meet showed the strength of our continent in all fields: we have outstanding athletes, our national federations run highly professional programmes and the level of the organisation, the images broadcasted all underline the leading role Europe plays in the world aquatics” the President said.

Swimmers were busy with producing outstanding results in succession. Two world records, three new European records (and a tied one), not less than 10 junior WRs, a new junior ER and 11 more Championship Records all highlighted the amazing level of the competition.

As usual, LEN offered a pot of 220,000 Euros for the top 12 performances in both genders (the best swim of each athlete was taken into account). Among the men Kliment Kolesnikov was the star of the meet: Russia’s teenage sensation clinched 4 golds and a silver – the latter in the 50m back where he was just 0.02sec shy of completing the backstroke treble. Ten minutes after that final he clocked a way better time in the opening leg of the medley relay – it was his 6th junior world record in Copenhagen. The one he set in the 100m back, where he was just 0.08sec away from breaking the senior WR, rocketed him to the top on the prize money list as this was the best effort of the entire field, based on the FINA points. This earned €20,000 for the 17 year-old, a fine reward for his achievements.

Russian men were at their best: they took the lionshare of their country’s medal tally which placed them atop on the medal table once again after 2013. And the individual results were just as remarkable, as they cashed in the top three prizes since Vlad Morozov and Kirill Prigoda follow Kolesnikov in the ranks. Adam Peaty’s European record in the 100m breast put the Brit to the 4th position which comes with €12.000 – plus a €5.000 bonus for the ER, which is handed over for the first time in the event’s history.

The same names sit in the first three positions on the women’s list as in Netanya, though this time Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) rushed to the first position (she was third in 2015), pushing Katinka Hosszu (HUN) and Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) one place back.

In terms of medals, the Old Continents’ three brilliant female stars also did an exceptional job as each of them captured 6 medals. Katinka was the best with 6 titles (in as many events), matching the best ever single-edition performance she had two years ago (she had 6 golds and a silver then). With the relays, Ranomi clinched 5 golds and had a silver, while Sarah had 3 golds and 3 silvers – all her wins came on the last day which was the best single-day feat of the event. Hosszu, Kromowidjojo and Kolesnikov all made the Top 10 on the list of the all-time best multi-medal winning performances.

Hosszu is closing the gap on Slovakia’s Martina Moravcova who leads the all-time medal ranks with 19-6-3, Hosszu’s ‘updated’ tally is 16-4-1 now. The best male is still Laszlo Cseh with 19-3-3, though the 32 year-old Hungarian couldn’t add any medal to his tally in Copenhagen as he left a major meet without a podium finish only for the second time in his 15-year long international senior career.